286 



JOURNAL OF HOETICULTURE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



[ October 9, 1866. 



having been run over, and the hen with its leg broken, so that 

 I was obliged to kill it at once. On inquiry I found that the 

 damage occurred whilst under the care of the Midland Bail- 

 way Company ; but on application could obtain no redress, 

 and was told the Company did not hold themselves "respon- 

 sible for any fancy price put upon poultry, that an important 

 principle was involved in dealing with claims of this descrip- 

 tion, and they would be quite prepared to resist any action I 

 might be advised to bring against the Company :" so that I 

 had the pleasure of paying back carriage on a dead cock and 

 a hen with a broken leg, not being aware of my loss at the time. 

 Had it been a horse, according to their own tables, the Mid- 

 land Railway Company would have been liable to the extent 

 of £50. I only claimed £3 15s. altogether, which no man of 

 common sense can call exorbitant for exhibition birds. Mr. 

 Needham wrote me, " I shall be quite willing to pay a reason- 

 able price for the poultry as such, it being understood that 

 this offer is made without prejudice in the event of its not 

 being accepted." I wrote in reply that I presumed " he meant 

 an eating price, about 2.s\ 6d. to 3s. firf. each," which of course 

 I declined. I have something else to do than bring actions 

 against railway companies, but will certainly avoid as much as 

 possible sending by the Midland. 



There is a little consolation for exhibitors in the fact that 

 all railway companies do not act in the same manner. The 

 Great Eastern only charge carnage one way at the approach- 

 ing Chelmsford and Ipswich Shows, the South-Western at the 

 Southampton, and the Brighton neither way at the Shoreham 

 Show, so I trust they will be well supported. — Edward Pigeon, 

 Lympstoiie, near Exeter. 



[We wish that Mr. Pigeon would pursue his claim against 

 the Midland Bailway Company in the County Court. The 

 cost would be little, for the Company admits its liability to 

 pay something. It is merely a question of amount. We 

 t hink the Company is liable for the sum claimed. — Eds.] 



A LITTLE ADDITIONAL LIGHT THROWN 

 UPON JOHN MOORE, 



AUTHOR OF THE " COLUMBARIUM." 



Mr. Hotten's " History of Signboards " has recently fallen 

 into my hands. It is a book well worth both perusal and 

 possession, and just written in time to save some very peculiar 

 antiquarian knowledge from being utterly lost. In another 

 generation who would know anything about signboards ? They 

 are disappearing even from villages, and yet many a first-rate 

 artist has painted one in his youth, when his purse was low, 

 and his name as yet no word of power ; and, too, they bore 

 frequently such odd titles — titles which had a history attached 

 to them. So I am thankful that we have at last a history of 

 them. At page 341 of Mr. Hotten's work there occurs a passage 

 of some interest to those who, like myself, have a respect for 

 our first writer on fancy Pigeons, old John Moore. It is this : 

 "One of the signs originally used exclusively by apothecaries 

 was the Mortar and Pestle, their well-known implements for 

 pounding drugs. Among the celebrities who sold medicines 

 under this emblem was the noted John Moore, author of the 

 celebrated worm powder, to whom Pope addressed some stanzas 

 beginning — 



" ' How much, egregious Moore, are we 

 Deceived by shows and forms ! 

 Whate'er we think, whate'er we see, 

 All human kind are worms.' 



" His shop was in St. Lawrence Poulteney Lane, formerly 

 he lived in Abchurch Lane. Every week the newspapers con- 

 tained advertisements proving, by the most wonderful cures, 

 the efficacy of his powders." 



Mr. Hotten seems to write as if he had seen some of these 

 advertisements. I would observe that we need not think of 

 Moore as being an unprincipled quack, such as we are familiar 

 with in this day, who impose upon the credulity of the humbler 

 classes, to the injury certainly of the pockets of the latter, 

 probably of their health. Nothing of the quack appears in the 

 " Columbarium." Moore seems to have been a sensible man, 

 and his remedies for the diseases of Pigeons have been quoted 

 with commendation by every writer since his time. Indeed, 

 many old and well-known patent medicines are excellent, and 

 frequently recommended by regular practitioners. Mr. Hotten 

 speaks of Moore as a "celebrity," and his medicines as "cele- 

 brated;" and in addressing Moore as "egregious," I would 

 observe that the word was used most probably by Pope in its 



original and complimentary sense, meaning " remarkable or 

 eminent." Turning to the works of Pope, vol. vi. of the 

 edition of 175-1, I found all the lines, which are as follows : — 

 " Man is a very worm by birth, 

 Vile, reptile, weak, and vain ; 

 Awhile he crawls upon the earth, 

 Then shrinks to earth again. 

 " That woman is a worm we find 

 E'er since our grandame's evil ; 

 She first convers'd with her own kind, 

 That ancient worm, the Devil. 



11 The fops are painted butterflies, 

 That flutter for a day ; 

 First from a worm they take their rise, 

 And in a worm decay. 

 " The flatterer an earwig grows. 

 Thus worms suit all conditions : 

 Misers are muckworms, silkworms beans, 

 And death-watches physicians. 

 " That statesmen have the worm is seen 

 By all their winding play ; 

 Their conscience is a worm within 

 That gnaws them night and day. 

 " Ah, Moore ! thy skill were well employ'd, 

 And greater gain would rise. 

 If thou could'st make the courtier void 

 The worm that never dies. 

 " O learned friend of Abchurch Lane, 

 Who sett'st onr bodies free ! 

 Vain is thy art, thy powder vain. 

 Since worms shall eat e'en thee. 

 " Our fate thou only canst adjourn 

 Some few short years, no more ! 

 E'en Button's wits to worms shall turn, 

 Who maggots were before." 



Thus, henceforth the name of Moore may be connected with 

 that of the bard of Twickenham, a true poet if ever there 

 was one ; Moore, too, was a man in a good position during 

 life, and much looked up to. We see Pope calls him his 

 " learned friend." It is at any rate possible that the little poet 

 paid visits to Moore while he lived at the " Pestle and Mortar " 

 in Abchurch Lane ; that he drew his little feeble body upstairs 

 to Moore's Pigeon-loft, where, Londoner like, he kept his 

 Pigeons ; yea, that Moore, together with a most apologetic note 

 for the great liberty taken, sent to Twickenham a copy of 

 " The Columbarium." We all know how Pope loved his 

 garden, and the great taste he showed in laying it out. Who 

 knows but that, like Cowper, he also loved to feed his fancy 

 Pigeons ? If he did, there is little doubt but that they came 

 from his "learned friend" John Moore. A garden is most 

 loved, pets are most cherished, by a delicate-minded and 

 feeble-bodied person — by one who cannot take much exercise, 

 and who, like Pope, has, alas ! to speak of "that long disease, 

 my life." 



The death of Mr. Moore is thus recorded in the " Gentleman's 

 Magazine for 1737 : — " April 12th. — Mr. John Moor, of Ab- 

 church Lane, the noted worm doctor. He will now shortly 

 verify Mr. Pope's witty observation — viz., 



" ' O ! learned friend of Abchurch Lane, 

 Who sets our bodies free. 

 Vain is thy art, thy powder vain, 

 Since worms shall eat e'en thee.' " 

 — WiLTsnir.E Bectoe. 



OSWESTRY POULTRY SHOW. 



That the Show held on the 5th hist, under the management of the 

 Oswestry Committee was far superior to any preceding it admits of no 

 second opinion, for not only was the number of entries augmented, 

 but the superiority of the classes generally was unquestionable. 



The Show was this year held" in the' Powis Market Hall, a very 

 suitable building, which offers the combined advantages of good venti- 

 lation, ample space, and an amount of light to every pen equal to any 

 that conld be obtained even in an open show-field. No donbt so 

 favourable an opportunity of exhibiting without fear of injury from 

 weather, caused a great accession of entries from some of our most 

 noted poultry breeders, and, consequently, the Oswestry Show this 

 year well deserves most favourable mention. The birds were all most 

 carefully attended to. Not a few pens had travelled to this Show from 

 the Emerald Isle. 



The Game fowls, as is commonly the case in this district, were excel- 

 lent; but it was remarkable that, though entries were made, every 

 pen in the class for Duckwings, or other Greys or Bines, was vacant. 

 Some unusually good Duckings were shown, both Coloured and White, 

 but the malformation of spurs outside the legs, instead of in their 

 proper position, proved fatal to the success of many pens otherwise 

 very meritorious. First-rate Cochins were exhibited, both Buff and 

 Partridge-coloured, hut no White ones were shown. The classes for 



